Jazz among Fading Stars

It was all very simple in the end. I hated Dottore and he hated me, and our hate drove us both to extremes. Before long I was branded, enslaved and cast into prison, like the rest of you here. But I would get my revenge.

* * *

I floated in a sea of stars. The ancient ones shimmered and faded in their orbits; they were dying, their light wasted in the endless void between galaxies. I had seen it before. It was one of many voids that dotted the universe like holes in Swiss cheese; black as night with no sign of stars or planets, just a profound absence of everything. Left empty by some ancient cataclysm I could not comprehend.

My ship drifted closer to the edge of this void, and suddenly I saw something new. A planet, close to the edge of the void itself. Its sun was a yellow dwarf; it glowed with a warm orange glow from inside a swirling net of clouds that obscured its surface from view. Then there were people drifting around it in ships which looked so familiar... It could only be one place!

I activated my ship's thrusters and set course for the planet, a smile growing across my face as I did so. I knew that Dottore was here! He had to be! And he would pay for what he did to me!

* * *

"Your Highness," said the guard captain who stood in front of Dottore's desk. "There is someone at the door seeking an audience."

Dottore looked up from his desk with an annoyed look on his face, but quickly turned apologetic when he saw who had arrived at his door unannounced. "Ahh," he said with a smile, pushing himself away from behind his desk to greet me with a hug, "my most beloved Jazz!"

"What do you want?" I said coldly as he released me from his grasp, "What do you want now? You know why I'm here!"

"Of course," he laughed nervously as if nothing bad had happened between us, "please sit down." He gestured towards the chair opposite him and sat back down himself on his own seat behind his desk.

"Why Jazz?" he asked calmly as if nothing had happened between us at all, "why did you decide to try and kill me?" His eyes seemed sad; too sad for someone who thought nothing of killing millions upon millions of people just because they fit his vision for humanity. He had no right to be sad about anything!

"Because you're evil!" I shouted at him angrily, "you think your strength makes you better than everyone else, but it doesn't! It makes you worse! You're afraid of death and weakness so you kill anyone who might make you feel those things again! Why can't you just leave people alone?!"

He smiled sadly again and shook his head slowly from side to side as if I didn't understand anything at all. "It's not about weakness Jazz," he told me quietly, "it's about greatness." He waved a hand dismissively at my outburst then continued speaking in that same quiet tone: "I don't see weakness or strength in anyone," he explained patiently with an almost fatherly air to him now, "I see potential." He raised his eyebrows slightly and looked up at me expectantly, challenging me to disagree with him. When he realised that I wouldn't do such a thing he went on: "So many people believe that we are all weak, Jazz," he began slowly as if explaining it to a child, "but we are not weak! We are simply different; capable of many more things than most people realise." He smiled again suddenly as if remembering something fondly then pointed excitedly at me: "That's why we need rules! That's why we need... government!" His voice rose slightly with excitement now as if realising what a wonderful idea government was compared to anarchy: "We need laws because there are some things people cannot handle for themselves!" He spread his arms wide and opened them up wide towards me as if welcoming me to embrace his philosophy wholeheartedly: "We have hope!" he exclaimed happily through gritted teeth as though just realising how much better life was under his rule than without it: "You see? We have hope for something greater than ourselves!" He smiled widely now like a proud parent looking upon their newborn child for the first time: "You see? We're perfect this way!"

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